It's official... I lost my 2600 game collection :(

[DemonoidTentacle]

Hi all, long time no see!

 

And there's a reason for that.

 

In March, I moved interstate to Melbourne for work. Everything was packed up in boxes, and brought over by myself. I've been living in denial these last few months, because since the move, I haven't been able to find my 2600 games collection. I've checked and double checked and triple checked every still unpacked box, but alas, they are not here. My fear is that I somehow got that box mixed into the boxes going to charity, so maybe some lucky young kid is now enjoying my 2600 games, along with my PSP and 3DS that were also in the box.

 

I have now come to accept this must be what has happened, and I need to start afresh.

 

Has anyone else done anything like this in the past, or am I alone in my mistake?

[RickR]

That really stinks. I've lost stuff when moving before, but luckily not something as sentimentally valuable as my 2600 stuff. So very sorry for you on the mix up.

[Greg2600]

Just buy a new 2600 and a Harmony.

[fiddlepaddle]

At least it's something that can be replaced; hopefully most of it anyway.

[The Caffeine Kid]

Eek. Wow that's rough. I hope you manage to get back all that you have lost - I guess you get the "fun" of looking for all those games again and slowly building up.

[DaytonaUSA]

Really sorry this happened. Hopefully there weren't a lot of rare titles/boxed titles. The 3ds sucks even worse as that's not cheap.

[+20ohm20]

I gave away about 80% of my Atari 2600 collection in the late 90's because I didn't want to move it all across the country. I mainly kept just what I had originally from my childhood and either donated and sold the rest for next to nothing.

 

I still regret it to this day.

[The Usotsuki]

Had to leave my Apple ][ disk collection behind in a move once.

[JadeETC]

My SEGA Genesis was lost a long time ago. Console along with all the games and accessories, including the CD games were gone. Pretty sure I lent it out and it was never returned.

[DemonoidTentacle]

No rarities in my collection, just heaps of commons, so thankfully replaceable.

[PFL]

Sorry for your bad luck bloke. I had something similar happen to me once though it was with my clothes. I was moving flat and threw all my clothes into 6 bin bags. I was going to donate 3 to the charity shop and the other 3 were my clothes. Guess which ones I gave away by accident... Killer! I had to spend the next year or so wearing the very same clothes I wanted rid off!

[Skarrj]

My 2600, sms, snes, nes, ps2 and xbox games either went to somone else in my family or were sold off. I didnt anticipate this collecting hobby until many years later or i would have kept everything.

[nanochess]

Since March!!! I would have run immediately to charity, surely they don't know what to do with your carts...

 

Maybe is still time! *crossing my fingers*

[shadow460]

I lost all but 12 games about 10 years ago when I lost my house. I've replaced about 90% of what I had and I've added to it. I've got more games than I had back then. I've got boxes for some, too, whereas the only games from the original collection that have boxes are ones for which I obtained boxes since then. My collection is in far better shape that it ever was, and I have learned the amount of sentimental value it has to me. BTW, I was also able to move into another house three years ago, so my mistakes that cost me the first one have finally been undone.

 

The most valuable games of my original collection were recovered and there's a thread about that in the 2600 forum. The rest have come over time and usually have come with other gems like Shuttle Orbiter I never knew existed. I'm still missing a few like Guardian and King Kong and I'm still missing about half the manuals, but it's getting there.

[Mirage]

If something like this ever happened to me, and it was all just gone, I would do what greg2600 suggested and just get a nice 2600 and Harmony (in my case, rather, replace the Harmony, since I have one now). I wouldn't have the heart (or money) to start over. Occasionally I consider doing it on purpose, to put 100% focus back on the playing and save a ton of space.

[DemonoidTentacle]

Yeah, I'm tossing up whether to start from scratch, piece by piece, or just buy a Harmony cart. The only thing stopping me from getting the carts again is that these day's I feel like 2600 collecting is a bit too expensive. Call me cheap, but I just can't justify paying no more than $2 for a loose 2600 cart.

[DemonoidTentacle]

Ah, who am I kidding, I've just purchased a few CIB games from Europe on the cheap. Looking forward to getting back into the collecting!

[shadow460]

Don't feel bad about the price. I just paid $9 for a boxed Pitfall for Intellivision. It's a dirt common game just like the 2600 version is. $9 for a common game?! Where is my sanity going...

Edited September 16, 2013 by shadow460

[Brian R.]

I gave away about 80% of my Atari 2600 collection in the late 90's because I didn't want to move it all across the country. I mainly kept just what I had originally from my childhood and either donated and sold the rest for next to nothing.

 

I still regret it to this day.

 

That's why I say, whatever I have, whatever I get, I will never get rid of.

 

I've gotten rid of things in the past only to regret it. That includes my Sega Game Gear and a Nomad.

 

Once I acquire something now, it's found a forever home. Even if I don't play it or use it for a while, I won't let it go.

 

I don't have anything from when I was a kid. 2600 was given up for a Coleco, no idea what happened to that; no idea what happened to the 600XL computer and 1010 drive I once had.

Edited September 16, 2013 by Brian R.

[Serious]

Hi all, long time no see!

 

And there's a reason for that.

 

In March, I moved interstate to Melbourne for work. Everything was packed up in boxes, and brought over by myself. I've been living in denial these last few months, because since the move, I haven't been able to find my 2600 games collection. I've checked and double checked and triple checked every still unpacked box, but alas, they are not here. My fear is that I somehow got that box mixed into the boxes going to charity, so maybe some lucky young kid is now enjoying my 2600 games, along with my PSP and 3DS that were also in the box.

 

I have now come to accept this must be what has happened, and I need to start afresh.

 

Has anyone else done anything like this in the past, or am I alone in my mistake?

 

 

Something similar has happened to me before.

 

As painful as this can be, rebuilding your collection can be very enjoyable, and you can approach it in a different (possibly better) way than you did previously.

[Chigti]

That happened when I moved to Chicago. My complete C128/64 and all the games and software, poof, like Casper the friendly freakin ghost.

[SoulBlazer]

Sucks about what happened! It seems like every time I move, something gets lost and other stuff just gets misplaced (as in, I don't find it until 3-4 years later when I'm digging through boxes looking for something else). Last time I moved a few years ago, I had a number of....well, adult DVD's vanish. I'm very suspicious about that one.

[Chigti]

Well, here's one of the damages today. F'ing USPS.

[Mirage]

That's another reason I wouldn't have the heart to start all over again now. It's an entirely different environment. I got most of my collection by finding it in the wild, and that gets harder to do all the time, leaving us increasingly at the mercy of shipping companies and idiot sellers who don't know how to pack. Not to mention all the shipping costs. Blarg!

[shadow460]

Well, here's one of the damages today. F'ing USPS.

That wasn't packed right, pure and simple. A little bit of bubble wrap, maybe two or three layers, would have prevented that and it would still have cost $2.07 to ship.